Emotional labour and the experience of emotional exhaustion amongst customer service representatives in a call centre

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(1)Emotional Labour and the Experience of Emotional Exhaustion Amongst Customer Service Representatives in a Call Centre.. Marelise Spies. Thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Stellenbosch University. Mr P Nel Dr H D Vos April 2006.

(2) DECLARATION. I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it at any university for a degree.. Signature:. _________________________. Date:. _________________________. II.

(3) ABSTRACT. In the new service economy organisations have to distinguish themselves from their competitors in terms of the quality of their service delivery. In order to attain this new goal organisations realise the important role that customers play in their success. Organisations also recognize that modern day customers have different wants and higher expectations regarding service delivery compared to only a decade ago. To live up to these new challenges a novel form of conducting business was introduced to the global labour market: Telephone call centres provide quality and efficient service in the most cost-effective way possible by, inter alia, utilising customer service representatives (CSRs) to attend to clients’ each and every need – this job demand is termed emotional labour. Due to the way in which the CSRs’ work is structured and the wide-ranging demands placed on them, these individuals experience countless and varied stressors on the job. The result, in a nutshell, is that CSRs become emotionally exhausted and eventually leave the call centre. The purpose of the present research study is, therefore, to identify to what extent emotional labour influences CSRs’ feelings of emotional exhaustion, and whether the latter results in detrimental outcomes that undermine organisations’ success and competitive advantage in the marketplace. A large organisation’s call centre operators participated in the study (n = 84). Seven focus groups were conducted for the purpose of qualitative data collection: Six groups consisted of CSRs (N = 30) and one group consisted of team leaders (N = 4). Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the focus group interviews. The participants (n = 84) also completed questionnaires measuring emotional labour, emotional exhaustion, supervisor support, organisational commitment, and intentions to leave. Analysis of the interview data supported the existence of the five theoretical constructs and additional sources of job stress, over and above emotional labour, were identified. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was used to analyse the questionnaire data, followed by multiple regression analysis with organisational commitment and intentions to leave as dependent variables, and the remaining constructs as the predictors. After determining the fit of the measurement model, consisting of the five constructs, a structural model was tested. Both the measurement and structural models produced acceptable goodness-of-fit statistics. The results of the structural model did not indicate a significant correlation between the total construct emotional labour and emotional exhaustion. Significant correlations were found.

(4) between emotional labour and supervisor support, emotional exhaustion and organisational commitment and intentions to leave respectively, and organisational commitment and intentions to leave. Multiple regression analysis indicated emotional exhaustion is a significant predictor of both lowered organisational commitment and increased intentions to leave. Structural equation modelling indicated emotional exhaustion is causally related to intentions to leave through organisational commitment. The findings are congruent with previous research on the detrimental effect of emotional exhaustion on organisational outcomes and illuminate the complex relationship between emotional labour and emotional exhaustion. Interventions minimising the impact of both emotional labour and emotional exhaustion, within a call centre environment, are explored.. IV.

(5) OPSOMMING. Organisasies in vandag se dienstesektor is genoodsaak om hulself van hul mededingers te onderskei deur middel van gehalte dienslewering. Organisasies besef dat, ten einde hierdie doelwit te bereik, hulle nóg kan bekostig om die kliënt agterweë te laat, nóg om die moderne kliënt se behoeftes en hoë verwagtinge met betrekking tot dienslewering te ignoreer. In ‘n poging om aan bogenoemde uitdagings te voldoen is ‘n oorspronklike manier van besigheid doen aan die wêreld bekendgestel: Oproepsentrums verskaf doeltreffende en kwaliteitdiens op ‘n koste-effektiewe manier deur, onder andere, gebruik te maak van oproepsentrum-agente wat reg staan om aan kliënte se behoeftes te voorsien – die tipe eise wat aan agente gestel word, word omskryf deur die term emosionele arbeid. As gevolg van die wyse waarop oproepsentrum-agente se werk gestruktureer word, asook die werkseise wat aan hulle gestel word, is agente blootgestel aan ‘n groot verskeidenheid stressors. Die gevolg is dat die agente emosioneel uitgeput raak en uiteindelik besluit om die oproepsentrum te verlaat. Die doelwit van die huidige navorsingstudie is om te bepaal in welke mate emosionele arbeid aanleiding gee tot agente se emosionele uitputting, en of laasgenoemde lei tot nadelige uitkomstes wat die organisasie se sukses en mededingende voordeel in die mark ondermyn. ‘n Groot organisasie se oproepsentrum-agente (n = 84) het deelgeneem aan die studie. Sewe fokusgroepe is ter wille van kwalitatiewe data-insameling gehou: Ses groepe het bestaan uit agente (N = 30) en een groep uit spanleiers (N = 4). Kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalise is gebruik ter ontleding van die fokusgroeponderhoude. Die deelnemers (n = 84) het ook vraelyste vir emosionele arbeid, emosionele uitputting, toesighouer ondersteuning, organisasie toewyding en voornemens om die organisasie te verlaat, voltooi. Ontleding van die onderhouddata het die teenwoordigheid van die teoretiese konstrukte, asook addisionele bronne van werkstres bo en behalwe emosionele arbeid, in die oproepsentrum bevestig. Pearson korrelasie analise is gebruik om die vraelysdata te analiseer, gevolg deur meervoudige regressieanalise met organisasie toewyding en voornemens om die organisasie te verlaat as afhanklike veranderlikes en die oorblywende veranderlikes as voorspellers. Na aanleiding van die metingsmodel, bestaande uit genoemde vyf konstrukte, se passingsresultate is ‘n strukturele model getoets. Beide die metingsmodel en strukturele model se passingstatistieke was aanvaarbaar. Die resultate van die strukturele model het nie ‘n.

(6) beduidende verwantskap tussen emosionele arbeid as eendimensionele konstruk en emosionele uitputting aangedui nie. Beduidende korrelasies is gevind tussen emosionele arbeid en spanleier ondersteuning, emosionele uitputting en organisasie toewyding en voornemens om die organisasie te verlaat onderskeidelik, en organisasie toewyding en voornemens om die organisasie te verlaat. Meervoudige regressie analise het aangedui emosionele uitputting is ‘n beduidende voorspeller van beide verminderde organisasie toewyding en verhoogde voornemens om die organisasie te verlaat. Strukturele vergelykingsmodellering het aangedui emosionele uitputting het deur organisasie toewyding ‘n kousale verwantskap met voornemens om die organisasie te verlaat. Die bevindinge is in ooreenstemming met vorige navorsing oor die negatiewe uitwerking van emosionele uitputting op organisatoriese uitkomstes en verhelder die komplekse verhouding tussen emosionele arbeid en emosionele uitputting. Intervensies om die impak van beide emosionele arbeid en emosionele uitputting binne die oproepsentrum-omgewing teë te werk, word ondersoek.. VI.

(7) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I would like to thank the following individuals and entities for providing me with their continuous support, albeit in very different capacities.. Firstly, I would like to thank the Department of Industrial Psychology (and all its lecturers) at the University of Stellenbosch for providing me with a safe environment in which I could develop my competency as researcher and aspiring psychologist.. More specifically, I would like to thank Mr Petrus Nel for the key role he performed in assisting me to complete my thesis: I will always be indebted to you for your kind and professional guidance, as well as your constant encouragement to explore my own style and to trust in my abilities. Also to Dr Henry Vos who helped me in preparing my research proposal: Thank you for your constructive advice whenever needed.. To Professor Callie Theron, thank you for teaching me the intricacies of SPSS and Lisrel and for guiding me in my quest for comprehension … I will always remember the many hours I spent immersed in Beta-coefficients and Goodness of Fit statistics! Also, thank you for your constant support and personal concern throughout the years.. To Dr Willem de Villiers, thank you for making me feel at home at the Department, and for your continuous support and interest in me, not just as student, but also as individual.. Thank you to my parents, Robert and Annamarié Spies, who have always encouraged me to be everything I can and want to be, and to do everything I can and want to do. To my dad, thank you for granting me the time and finances to pursue my academic career, and to my mom, thank you for your emotional support, for helping me to hold onto my dreams, and for always sharing in my joy when they realise.. Thank you to my sister, Amoré Spies, for teaching me how to enjoy life and for making me laugh - and cry sometimes!.

(8) Thank you to my grandmother, Marie Engelbrecht, for the loving care and support she has always shown me.. Thank you to Mr Willie Visser, supervising psychologist during my internship, for providing me with various opportunities to experience I/O Psychology in practice and for allowing me to grow in a professional capacity.. Lastly, thank you to the particular organisation’s call centre management for opening their doors to me, and to the customer service representatives who shared their experiences with a total stranger.. VIII.

(9) TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER. 1:. INTRODUCTION,. RESEARCH. OBJECTIVES. AND. OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1. INTRODUCTION. 1. 1.2. RESEARCH PROBLEM. 2. 1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES. 3. 1.4. STUDY OUTLINE. 4. 1.5. SUMMARY. 5. CHAPTER 2: THE NATURE OF THE CALL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT 2.1. INTRODUCTION. 6. 2.2. THE CALL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT. 6. 2.2.1. Definitions of Call Centres. 7. 2.2.2. The Customer Service Representative (CSR). 8. 2.2.3. Types of Call Centres. 8. 2.2.4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Call Centres. 10. 2.2.5. The Design Characteristics of Call Centres. 10. 2.3. CONTEXTUALISATION OF CONSTRUCTS WITHIN THE CALL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT. 12. 2.3.1. Emotional Labour. 12. 2.3.2. Burnout (Emotional Exhaustion). 13. 2.3.3. Burnout and Supervisor Support in terms of Two Theoretical Frameworks 14 2.3.4. Organisational Commitment (OC) and Intentions to Leave. 16. 2.4. SUMMARY. 17. CHAPTER 3: EMOTIONAL LABOUR AND SUPERVISOR SUPPORT 3.1. INTRODUCTION. 19. 3.2. EMOTIONAL LABOUR. 19. 3.2.1. Emotional Labour in the Service Environment. 19. 3.2.2. Potential Costs Associated with Performing Emotional Labour. 20. 3.2.3. Characteristics of Emotional Labour. 22. 3.2.4. Conceptualisation and Definition of Emotional Labour. 24. 3.2.5. Dimensions of Emotional Labour. 27.

(10) 3.2.6. The Relationship between Emotion Management (Regulation) Techniques and Burnout. 30. 3.2.7. The Social Interaction Model of Emotion Regulation. 33. 3.3. SUMMARY. 37. 3.4. SUPERVISOR SUPPORT. 37. 3.4.1. Supervisor Support in the Service Environment. 37. 3.4.2. Definitions of Social Support in terms of Types and Sources of Support. 38. 3.4.3. Social Support and The Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory. 39. 3.4.4. Process Models of Social Support: Main and Buffering Hypotheses. 40. 3.4.5. Supervisor Support and Organisational Commitment (OC). 45. 3.4.6. Social Support and Interpersonal Bases of Power. 46. 3.5. SUMMARY. 47. CHAPTER. 4:. EMOTIONAL. EXHAUSTION,. ORGANISATIONAL. COMMITMENT AND INTENTIONS TO LEAVE 4.1. INTRODUCTION. 49. 4.2. BURNOUT. 49. 4.2.1. Definition and Dimensions of Burnout. 49. 4.2.2. Conceptual Difference between Stress and Burnout. 52. 4.2.3. Burnout within the Service Environment. 53. 4.2.4. Developmental Models of Burnout. 54. 4.2.5. Burnout, Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, and Job DemandsResources (JD-R) Model. 55. 4.2.6. Causes of Burnout. 58. 4.3. SUMMARY. 59. 4.4. ORGANISATIONAL COMMITMENT (OC) AND INTENTIONS TO LEAVE 4.4.1. Introduction. 59. 4.4.2. Relevance of Organisational Commitment to Contemporary Business. 60. 4.4.3. Definitions of Organisational Commitment. 61. 4.4.4. The Development and Antecedents of Organisational Commitment. 62. 4.4.5. Definitions of Turnover. 63. 4.4.6. Turnover within the Call Centre Environment. 63. 4.4.7. Organisational Commitment as a Predictor of Intentions to Leave. 64.

(11) 4.4.8. The Relationship between Burnout, Organisational Commitment, and Intentions to Leave. 65. 4.5. SUMMARY. 68. CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY 5.1. INTRODUCTION. 69. 5.2. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PARADIGM. 69. 5.2.1. Conceptualisation of Qualitative Research. 69. 5.2.2. Qualitative Data-Gathering Technique: Focus Groups. 71. 5.2.3. Data-Analysis Technique: Qualitative Content Analysis. 72. 5.2.4. Sample Used for Qualitative Data Collection. 74. 5.3. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH PARADIGM. 77. 5.3.1. Conceptualisation of Quantitative Research. 77. 5.3.2. Quantitative Data-Gathering Technique: Survey Research. 78. 5.3.3. Sample Used for Quantitative Data Collection. 78. 5.3.4. Data-Gathering: Operationalisation and Measuring Instruments. 79. 5.3.4.1. Emotional labour (EL). 79. 5.3.4.2. Emotional exhaustion. 80. 5.3.4.3. Organisational commitment (OC). 81. 5.3.4.4. Intentions to leave. 81. 5.3.4.5. Supervisor support. 82. 5.3.5. Statistical Analyses. 82. 5.3.5.1. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis. 83. 5.3.5.2. Multiple Regression / Correlation Analysis (MRC). 83. 5.3.5.3. Item Analysis. 88. 5.3.5.4. Factor Analysis. 89. 5.3.5.5. Item Parcels and Structural Equation Modelling. 91. 5.4. SUMMARY. 93. CHAPTER 6: PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS 6.1. INTRODUCTION. 95. 6.2. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH RESULTS. 95. 6.2.1. Biographical Data. 95. 6.2.2. Results of Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Analysis. 97.

(12) 6.2.3. Results of Multiple Regression / Correlation (MRC). 100. 6.2.4. Results of Measurement and Structural Models. 104. 6.2.4.1. Absolute Fit Statistics. 114. 6.2.4.2. Comparative Fit Statistics. 117. 6.2.4.3. Parsimonious Fit Statistics. 118. 6.3. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH RESULTS. 118. 6.3.1. Construct-specific Interview content of Customer Service Representatives (CSRs). 119 6.3.1.1. Emotional labour. 119. 6.3.1.2. Burnout: Emotional Exhaustion. 123. 6.3.1.3. Burnout: Cynicism and Inefficacy. 123. 6.3.1.4. Supervisor Support. 124. 6.3.1.5. Organisational (Affective) Commitment. 126. 6.3.1.6. Intentions to Leave. 127. 6.3.2. General Themes of CSRs. 128. 6.3.3. Construct-specific Interview content of Team Leaders. 132. 6.3.4. General Themes of Team Leaders. 134. 6.4. SUMMARY. 137. CHAPTER. 7. DISCUSSION. OF. RESEARCH. RESULTS. AND. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH 7.1. INTRODUCTION. 138. 7.2. DISCUSSION OF CORRELATION RESULTS. 138. 7.3. DISCUSSION OF MULTIPLE REGRESSION / CORRELATION (MRC) ANALYSIS RESULTS. 151. 7.4. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS OF STATISTICAL MODELS. 155. 7.4.1. Measurement model. 155. 7.4.2. Structural model. 158. 7.5. CONCLUSION. 163. 7.6. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH. 172. 7.6.1. Limitations of the Present Research Study. 172. 7.6.2. Recommendations for future research in light of the social interaction model of emotion regulation. 175. 7.6.3. Intervention: Implications for Practice. 176.

(13) APPENDIX A: FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS. 183. APPENDIX B: PROCEDURE FOLLOWED BEFORE EACH FOCUS GROUP SESSION. 187. APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE. 189. APPENDIX D: QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWER SHEET. 194. APPENDIX E: CSRs’ INTERVIEW COMMENTS (RAW DATA). 197. APPENDIX F: TEAM LEADER’s INTERVIEW COMMENTS (RAW DATA) 237. REFERENCES. 245. XIII.

(14) LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Simplified Call Centre Model of Emotional Labour, Emotional Exhaustion, and Organisational Outcomes ……………………………………………………….18 Figure 2: Measurement Model ……………………………………………………..106 Figure 3: Structural Model …………………………………………………………108. LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Interpretation Guidelines for Pearson’s r ……………………………….….83 Table 2: Frequency Table for Race ………………………………………………….95 Table 3: Frequency Table for Education …………………………………………….95 Table 4: Frequency Table for Gender ……………………………………………….96 Table 5: Frequency Table for Home Language ……………………………………..96 Table 6: Correlations Using Construct Total Scores ………………………………..99 Table 7: Correlations Showing Breakdown of Emotional Labour Dimensions …….99 Table 8: R2 Values and Model Significance Test …………………………………..101 Table 9: Values of Standardised Beta Coefficients ………………………………...102 Table 10: R2 Values and Model Significance Test …………………………………102 Table 11: Values of Standardised Beta Coefficients ……………………………….103 Table 12: R2 Values and Model Significance Test …………………………………104 Table 13: Values of Standardised Beta Coefficients ……………………………….104 Table 14: Supplementary Emotional Labour Themes and Interview Comments of CSRs ………………………………………………………………………………..122 Table 15: Additional Themes and Interview Comments pertaining to the Call Centre ………………………………………………………………………………130. XIV.

(15) CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION, RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY. 1.1. INTRODUCTION Contemporary business has undergone a change in focus with regard to how it positions itself in the marketplace. Under the former industrial production model the aim was to produce and sell volumes of goods, as this would ensure a premier position, that is, a competitive advantage, in the market. On the contrary, in the new service economy organisations have to distinguish themselves from their competitors in terms of the quality of their service delivery (Deery, Iverson & Walsh, 2004).. In order to attain this new strategy organisations realise the important role that customers play in their success. Organisations also recognize that modern day customers have different wants and higher expectations regarding service delivery compared to only a decade ago. To live up to these new challenges a novel form of conducting business was introduced to the global labour market: telephone call centres.. Call centres are believed to provide the mentioned competitive advantage to organisations by means of a relatively simple business principle, namely providing quality and efficient service in the most cost-effective way possible (Hillmer, Hillmer & McRoberts, 2004). For this purpose call centres follow a very specific design model characterised by a high degree of structure and very limited flexibility, both in terms of how the call centre is managed, as well as how the customer service representatives (CSRs) – that is, the call centre agents - perform their job. It is noteworthy that this formula has indeed provided enormous financial benefits to organisations (Deery & Kinnie, 2004).. Unfortunately, this positive picture of call centres does not tell the whole story. Call centres have also been labelled “electronic sweatshops”, “dark satanic mills of the twenty-first century” (Holman, 2003, p.123) and “the bête noire of organisational types” (Holman, 2004, p.223). These descriptions refer to the fact that CSRs experience countless and varied stressors on the job due to the way in which their work is structured and the wide-ranging demands placed on them. 1.

(16) The result, in a nutshell, is that CSRs become emotionally exhausted and eventually leave the call centre. In fact, costs associated with labour turnover are the one factor that consumes the biggest part of call centre budgets all over the world (as per Dimension Data’s Merchants Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report, January 2005).. Thus, the call centre phenomenon seems to be a double-edged sword in that it has the potential to augment organisations’ prosperity due to its lean and efficient design features - the irony is also, however, that these same design features might undermine its original purpose, namely to provide organisations with a competitive advantage.. 1.2. RESEARCH PROBLEM CSRs are an integral element in the service delivery equation as they are the proverbial boundary-spanners (Singh, Goolsby & Rhoads, 1994) between the organisation and its customers: it is their task to present the organisation in a positive light to customers by providing quality service through telephonic interaction (Deery & Kinnie, 2004; Singh et al., 1994).. Research has found that service performance deteriorates in response to emotional exhaustion (Wright & Cropanzano, 1998, cited in Grandey, 2003). The implications for call centres are significant: If CSRs feel emotionally exhausted they are unlikely to provide a quality service to customers, let alone provide a competitive advantage.. From the literature it is clear that a wide array of work-related variables contribute to the onset of emotional exhaustion amongst service professionals (such as CSRs). These include, amongst others: a) daily hassles, that is, work demands that, as the name implies, irritate CSRs on an incessant basis (Lazarus, 1977, cited in Carayon, 1995); b) work demands that exist in combination with a lack of resources (for example, support) (Demerouti, Nachreiner, Bakker & Schaufeli, 2001), and c) emotional work demands that are inherent in the nature of service work (Côté, 2005; Hochschild, 1979). This latter variable has been extensively researched under the construct emotional labour. It is also included in the present study.. 2.

(17) In light of the fact that the nature of CSRs’ work, encapsulated by the notion of emotional labour, has been linked to emotional exhaustion and that the latter is associated with such outcomes as employee turnover, companies that make use of call centres could gain substantially, for example in terms of cost savings, by investigating the relationships amongst these variables.. Therefore, the problem and / or challenge for call centre management is to identify those factors in the work environment that impact negatively on CSRs’ well-being and to either eliminate them or assist CSRs in better coping with them for the purpose of obtaining the competitive advantage that call centres promise.. 1.3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of the present study are therefore as follows: 1. To investigate the nature of CSRs’ jobs (encapsulated by the term emotional labour). 2. To investigate CSRs’ levels of emotional exhaustion (as a dimension of the construct burnout) in response to the nature of their work (i.e. emotional labour). 3. To investigate the direct effect of social support (more specifically, supervisor support) on emotional exhaustion. 4. To establish the resulting consequences of emotional exhaustion for the organisation in terms of organisational commitment (OC) and intentions to leave.. In light of the above objectives and the proposed model (see Chapter 2) the following propositions will be tested statistically: Ha1: Emotional labour will be statistically significantly related to emotional exhaustion. Ha2: Supervisor support will be statistically significantly related to emotional exhaustion. Ha3: Supervisor support will be statistically significantly related to organisational commitment. Ha4: Emotional exhaustion will be statistically significantly related to organisational commitment. 3.

(18) Ha5: Emotional exhaustion will be statistically significantly related to intentions to leave. Ha6: Organisational commitment will be statistically significantly related to intentions to leave.. 1.4. STUDY OUTLINE Chapter 2 focuses on the nature of the call centre environment. It aims to provide a general overview of the business rationale for establishing call centres, two types of call centre models and their design characteristics, as well as how these qualities impact on CSRs’ well-being. Chapter 2 also explicates the linkages amongst all the constructs contained in the present study and how they relate to the call centre environment specifically.. Chapter 3 focuses on the causes of emotional exhaustion. The chapter begins with a detailed discussion of emotional labour, indicating how the various sub-dimensions of emotional labour are associated with emotional exhaustion. The second part of the chapter focuses on social support – specifically supervisor support – and cites research on the association between a lack of support and emotional exhaustion. Also included in this section are the different types and sources of social support, as well as the two mechanisms through which support impacts on strain (i.e. exhaustion).. In Chapter 4 the consequence of performing emotional labour for the individual (i.e. CSR) is discussed. This entails an in-depth coverage of the construct burnout, with a clear emphasis on its core dimension, emotional exhaustion. Also included are the conceptualisation and definition of burnout, an explanation of the difference and relationship between stress and burnout, an overview of various developmental models of burnout, two theoretical frameworks against which to interpret emotional exhaustion, and the common causes of burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion).. Following this discussion, the consequences of burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion) for the organisation in terms of OC and intentions to leave are discussed. Also included are the relevance of OC as a role-player in present day organisations, a focus on affective commitment (a specific sub-dimension of the total OC construct), and the association between OC and intentions to leave. 4.

(19) Chapter 5 covers the methodology employed, Chapter 6 presents the results of the quantitative and qualitative data analyses respectively, and Chapter 7 presents the interpretation and discussion of the research findings, as well as the recommendations and conclusion.. 1.5. SUMMARY Call centres, as a relatively novel business domain, has become an integral source of employment in contemporary society. Despite many of its benefits to organisations, such as being cost-effective, it also poses a danger to the people that are employed to perform the work - the CSRs. As such, it is imperative that call centre management acknowledges and identifies those factors in the work environment that are detrimental to CSRs’ well-being. In failing to do so the end-result could hold implications for individuals and organisations alike.. For individuals, increasing stress levels will result in burnout and an eventual inability to function optimally at work. For organisations, already high levels of turnover will continue to rise even higher, undermining any hopes of establishing a competitive advantage in the marketplace. For these reasons it would be in the best interests of all organisations that make use of call centres to investigate the idiosyncrasies that exist in their specific contexts. It is only through an understanding of the nature and complexity of the issue that organisations and call centre management would be able to intervene effectively.. 5.

(20) CHAPTER 2: THE NATURE OF THE CALL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT. 2.1. INTRODUCTION This chapter focuses on the nature of the call centre environment. It aims to provide a general overview of, inter alia, the business rationale for establishing call centres, two types of call centre models and their design characteristics, as well as how these qualities impact on CSRs’ well-being. In addition, the linkages amongst all the constructs contained in the present study, and how they relate to the call centre environment specifically, are explicated.. 2.2. THE CALL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT In recent years the world of work has experienced a general economic paradigm shift that has affected the nature of global economic activity in terms of a movement away from producing goods towards providing services, with a concomitant change regarding the role of the customer in the economic process. In contrast to the former industrial production model where customers were external to the labour process - in other words, passive end-consumers of produced goods - customers in the service economy are now active role players in terms of their wants and expectations regarding service delivery. This development has been coined the new triangular relationship between organisations (management), employees and customers (Deery, Iverson & Walsh, 2004, p.201), resulting in unique organisational and service-related challenges, especially pertaining to service quality.. For example, two apparent challenges facing organisations today are a) the dual focus of providing high quality service to customers in a cost-effective way (Hillmer, Hillmer & McRoberts, 2004), and b) continuous endeavours to distinguish one’s business in terms of (quality) customer support and service, instead of product performance, as it is the former that differentiates successful organisations from the unsuccessful ones in the eyes of present-day customers (Nel, De Villiers & Engelbrecht, 2003).. In reaction to the above changes and challenges, global labour markets have witnessed a substantial growth in telephone call centres, as businesses have transferred the responsibility for direct interaction with customers to the call centres, 6.

(21) charging them with the task to deliver quality service cost-effectively. In contemporary Europe call centres are believed to be the fastest growing form of employment (Deery & Kinnie, 2004) such as that UK call centres are projected to recruit 200 000 workers between 2004 and 2007 (UK Call Centre Growth Predicted, 2004, http://www.humanresources-centre.net). In a similar vein projected annual call centre growth in Australia is said to average 20% to 25% (Lewig & Dollard, 2003).. South Africa has not missed the call centre boom either. In December 2004 it was reported that foreign businesses had invested R 380 million in the Western Cape’s call centre industry (Sakeredaksie, 2004, p. S17). In addition, the Western Cape government identified call centres as strategic growth points for the local economy: The call centre industry is estimated to be one of this province’s top ten employers with approximately 11 000 employees and is projected to grow by 40% annually over the next three years (Van Dyk, 2004, p. S15).. 2.2.1. Definitions of Call Centres Call centre definitions range from being very simple to relatively technical and complex. Taylor and Bain (1999) emphasize that the presence of a telephone and a computer does not automatically render an employee a CSR; instead, it is the integrative use of these technologies that results in the formation of call centres.. Gutek (1995, cited in Deery & Kinnie, 2004) characterises call centres as providing service speedily and efficiently through the standardisation of service encounters, the use of interchangeable service providers and information and communication technologies. Frenkel, Tam, Korczynski and Shire (1998) view call centres as communication vehicles delivering service and sales either via advanced technological systems such as automatic voice response systems with minimum or no human involvement, or via frontline employees utilising computer software to interact with customers over the telephone. Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt and Blau (2003) describe call centres as a tool used to compete for customers and as stations employed for voice-tovoice contact with customers. This latter conceptualisation implies one of the main reasons for the establishment of call centres, namely a striving for competitive advantage (Taylor & Bain, 1999).. 7.

(22) 2.2.2. The Customer Service Representative (CSR) The manner in which customer service organisations, and by implication call centres, is designed and managed (discussed further on) often results in high stress levels amongst its employees, which in turn result in such problems as absenteeism and high turnover (Hillmer et al., 2004). Seeing that researchers have noted service performance deteriorates in response to emotional exhaustion (the burnout dimension researched in this study) (Wright & Cropanzano, 1998, cited in Grandey, 2003) organisations will need to cope with the challenge of rising stress levels amongst their employees in order to obtain the competitive advantage that call centres promise.. In other words, although it is stated that call centres (that is, the physical space from where organisations interact with their customers) provide organisations with a competitive advantage, it is in actual fact the frontline people employed in call centres (that is, the CSRs – colloquially referred to as call centre agents - responsible for handling client interactions) who differentiate organisations in terms of service delivery and who ultimately provide the competitive advantage.. Zapf et al. (2003) describes the CSR as an employee who sits behind a table, in front of a computer, with a telephone headset on and hands that are free to navigate the computer while interacting with customers. In this role, the CSR is an integral element in the service delivery equation as he / she is the proverbial boundary-spanner (Singh, Goolsby & Rhoads, 1994) between the organisation and its customers: It is his / her task to present the organisation in a positive light to customers by providing quality service through telephonic interaction (Deery & Kinnie, 2004; Singh et al., 1994). However, if CSRs feel emotionally exhausted they are unlikely to provide a quality service to customers, let alone provide a competitive advantage. In light of the above it becomes clear why the emotional well-being of CSRs should be of concern to all businesses making use of call centres.. 2.2.3. Types of Call Centres Call centres could either be inbound, outbound, or a combination of the two service models. The particular organisation’s business determines whether frontline employees fulfil a more passive (inbound) or active (outbound) role (Zapf et al., 2003). Outbound call centres typically focus on telemarketing and sales where CSRs 8.

(23) phone clients with the aim of selling the organisation’s products. Inbound call centres, on the other hand, function on the basis of customers phoning in to the organisation with CSRs answering calls so as to respond to client questions and to assist with client queries. According to Taylor and Bain (1999) these two call centre design models impose different demands on CSRs.. For example, in the inbound call centre model a sophisticated answering system (the ACD system) receives incoming calls and distributes them to available CSRs who are required to take call after call without choice regarding call timing or call breaks. These incoming calls can vary in terms of technical content and/or complexity, as well as client emotions, and in this sense CSRs are not ‘prepared’ in advance for what they may encounter: They are required to sort out client problems and/or deal with client queries as they happen.. In the outbound call centre model, so-called “predictive dialling systems” (Taylor & Bain, 1999, p.108) automatically dial customer numbers contained in the business’ database and connect them to CSRs. In this model the CSRs do not receive calls, nor are they required to handle client problems and/or queries on an ad hoc basis as in the inbound call centre; instead, they are required to create interest in, and preferably sell, the organisation’s products. These CSRs, however, know beforehand what they need to say and do while interacting with customers. Thus, one of the apparent demand differences imposed on CSRs, as deduced from the literature, seems to be the degrees of uncertainty under which CSRs operate in each call centre model. It is reasonable to assume that many more differences exist that warrant further investigation. This is, however, not the purpose of the present research study.. From the above it is evident that call centres provide a variety of services ranging from customer service to advertising and sales support via the integrative use of telephone and computer technology - it is this chameleon-like property that renders them ideal for the rapidly changing global business domain (Prabhaker, Sheehan & Coppett, 1997, p.222; Taylor, Mulvey, Hyman & Bain, 2002).. 9.

(24) 2.2.4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Call Centres Bennington, Cummane and Conn (2000) report on the advantages and disadvantages of call centres. From the customer’s point of view call centres represent convenience: Instead of travelling to a physical location, fast and efficient service is obtained via the telephone from a centralised contact point. For the organisation increased effectiveness and efficiency result from the ability to service more clients with fewer staff (Prabhaker et al., 1997, cited in Bennington et al., 2000). Thus, cost savings are achieved for both customer and service organisation.. Some of the disadvantages include a reliance on technology that is fallible at times, the inability to consistently deliver timeous and responsive service, and the difficulty of building customer relationships due to the absence of face-to-face interaction. All of these result in client frustration and dissatisfaction with service quality (Crome, 1998, cited in Bennington et al., 2000). In fact, it is probable that these disadvantages are the exact same difficulties - or daily hassles (Lazarus, 1977, cited in Carayon, 1995) - that CSRs face on the job and that cause their stress levels to escalate, eventually culminating in emotional exhaustion.. 2.2.5. The Design Characteristics of Call Centres As reiterated at various times already, call centres have delivered enormous financial benefits to organisations due to their cost-effectiveness (Deery & Kinnie, 2004). This is in part due to the idiosyncratic design of call centres as is evident from earlier definitions. At the same time, however, they have also been labelled “electronic sweatshops”, “dark satanic mills of the twenty-first century” (Holman, 2003, p.123) and “the bête noire of organisational types” (Holman, 2004, p.223). Thus, it is clear that two contrasting images of call centres have emerged from the literature.. Proponents of call centres emphasize the possibility of transforming CSRs into empowered information technology professionals who interact with customers in a naturally friendly and relaxed manner. The opposite of this positive description, however, is that of a CSR who works under strenuous conditions and who is continuously measured by a superior on criteria such as speed, information accuracy, script adherence and conversation pleasantness (Taylor & Bain, 1999).. 10.

(25) These conflicting views have been enforced and commented on by various researchers. Taylor et al. (2002) recognises that call centres are not homogeneous entities and that they differ in terms of various work organisation (p.134) variables, such as size, complexity of operations and technological integration, as well as human resource aspects such as management style.. With regard to management style, the particular choice and presence of supervisor (or team leader) support for CSRs should also differ between call centres. In some call centres high levels of various types of support could be present, such as emotional and instrumental support (Cohen & Wills, 1985) that are provided to CSRs on a daily basis, whereas in other call centres support could be nonexistent. In the present study the association between team leader support and CSRs’ levels of emotional exhaustion is investigated.. Taylor and Bain (1999) write that although call centres have some design characteristics in common, variations across a so-called continuum of complexity (p.108) do exist that need to be kept in mind. In response to this, call centres are also described as transactional and relational entities. The former is characterised by, inter alia, brief agent-customer interactions, monotonous and repetitive work requiring low-level skill and close monitoring; in other words, a focus on volume / quantity. The latter is described as empathetic, quality-oriented environments where agentcustomer interactions are of longer duration and agents are semi-skilled (Frenkel et al., 1998; Taylor et al., 2002).. Taylor et al. (2002) proposes a way to conceptualise the nature of call centres in terms of a dichotomisation of call centre characteristics into quantitative and qualitative dimensions. The more quantitative dimensions are present, the more it approximates the traditional view of call centre work as routinised and repetitive; the more qualitative dimensions exist in a call centre, the more it is believed to approximate the more recently proposed view of call centres as allowing for creativity, customisation and increasing agent discretion (Frenkel et al., 1999, cited in Taylor et al., 2002).. Examples of proposed quantitative criteria include “simple customer interaction”, “routinization”, “targets hard”, and “strict script adherence” (Frenkel et al., 1999, 11.

(26) cited in Taylor et al., 2002, p.136). This latter requirement (i.e. keeping to the call centre script) is indicative of call centre management’s attempts at regulating CSRs expressions on the job, whether it is with regard to what they say to clients (i.e. the technical content of the message) or as to how they deliver the message (i.e. their manner and behaviour) to clients. In fact, this regulated emotional expression vis-àvis clients, achieved through conforming to the organisation’s display rules, contribute to the monotonous and repetitive nature of call centre work and ‘robs’ CSRs of any control and / or discretion over performing their work.. Quality criteria are at the opposite poles, in other words, “complex customer interaction”, “individualization / customisation”, “targets soft”, and “flexible or no scripts” (Frenkel et al., 1999, cited in Taylor et al., 2002, p.136). Call centres can hence be positioned on a quantity-quality continuum, depending on the combination of work dimensions present in its particular environment.. This dual perspective of the nature of call centres is reflected in the inherent tension that exists between two particular and contradictory objectives that call centres aim to achieve and maintain: on the one hand, efficiency and productivity (a quantity perspective) and on the other hand, quality customer service (a quality perspective).. Evidence for this contradiction is found in a recent summary of the Merchants Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report (published in January 2005 by Dimension Data), in which various global call centre industry trends are explicated. With regard to call centre strategy and development, the three most important business drivers are indicated as reducing costs (increasing efficiency), increasing revenue, and improving service levels – the contradictory goals of efficiency and quality service being crystal clear.. 2.3. CONTEXTUALISATION OF CONSTRUCTS WITHIN THE CALL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT 2.3.1. Emotional Labour In recent years the role of emotion in the workplace has been a constant, albeit implicit, theme in the Industrial / Organisational Psychology literature. With specific reference to service transactions researchers have found that the manner in which 12.

(27) employees display feelings has a definite influence on perceived service transaction quality (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993). It is for this reason that organisations have begun to emphasise the development of a pertinent customer orientation in terms of the nature and the quality of services rendered to all its customers and / or clients.. A second factor that has contributed to this trend is the growth in the service sector and the accompanying and increased competition amongst service providers (Scheider & Bowen, 1995, Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry, 1990, cited in Morris & Feldman, 1996, p.986).. With regard to call centres, CSRs have been assigned the role of managing customer relationships and of presenting the firm’s personality telephonically to the customer (Belt, Richardson & Webster, 1999, cited in Deery & Kinnie, 2004, p.8). As implied earlier, the manner in which CSRs act towards and speak to customers has become a salient concern of organisations. Therefore, the nature of CSRs’ jobs could be termed emotional labour, in contrast to physical labour as performed in the production of goods (see Figure 1 at the end of Chapter 2 for a visual and simplified representation of the discussion that follows).. 2.3.2. Burnout (Emotional Exhaustion) Although emotional labour has functional consequences (positive outcomes) for the organisation, such as when it enables CSRs to deal effectively with customer complaints, which in turn may influence customers’ decisions to use the services offered by an organisation on a future occasion, the possibility of negative consequences for the psychological well-being of individuals also exist (Morris & Feldman, 1996). One potentially negative consequence of emotional labour has been identified as burnout (Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002; Brotheridge & Lee, 2002).. Burnout is defined as a syndrome consisting of three distinct dimensions, namely emotional exhaustion (characterised by individuals feeling depleted of emotional resources), depersonalisation / cynicism (referring to individuals’ negative, cynical or detached responses to other people and / or work), and reduced personal accomplishment / inefficacy (entailing individuals’ feelings of incompetence and declined productivity). 13.

(28) Emotional exhaustion has consistently been perceived as the core component of burnout as it has been the most internally consistent and stable measure of the three components, as well as the most responsive to work-related stressors (Shirom, 2003). For the purposes of the present study emotional exhaustion will be the construct under consideration.. Despite extensive research on the causes of burnout - such as the quantity or frequency of interactions with clients, role and work overload, role conflict and role ambiguity - the quality of experiences has received scant attention. Brotheridge and Grandey (2002) emphasize that although emotional exhaustion has been viewed as the core of burnout, rarely has emotional work demands been considered as predictors of burnout.. Rafaeli and Sutton (1989, cited in Brotheridge & Grandey, 2002) support the above viewpoint by proposing that, in addition to the inherent stress involved in continuously interacting with people (due to the frequency, and hence the workload, characterising such interactions), employees might also be required to adapt and regulate their emotional expressivity according to pre-determined and organisationally sanctioned ways – hence referring to emotional labour. The emotional nature of interpersonal encounters as predictors of burnout therefore warrants further attention.. 2.3.3. Burnout and Supervisor Support in terms of Two Theoretical Frameworks The conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989, cited in Brotheridge & Lee, 2002; Ito & Brotheridge, 2003) has been utilised as a framework for integrating research on stress and burnout. According to COR theory “…people strive to obtain, retain, protect, and foster valued resources and minimize any threats of resource loss” (Brotheridge & Lee, 2002, p.58). Furthermore, in order to gain or regain valued resources individuals usually make use of other resources (Shirom, 2003), and if this is impossible individuals experience stress. Hobfoll (1989, cited in Brotheridge & Lee, 2002) argues that one of the most critical ways to obtain and regain resources that have been lost is by developing beneficial, that is rewarding, social relationships with others.. 14.

(29) The specific resource applicable to the call centre environment is supervisor support – in call centre terminology, team leader support. Shirom (2003) explains, individuals that either lack a supportive structure or that experience poor social support, are more prone to experience burnout and / or periods of intermittent resource losses and gains. This proposition is supported by consistent research findings of negative correlations between burnout and social support. In other words, team leader support could serve as a buffer (moderator) between the stressor (emotional labour) and the outcome (emotional exhaustion). In addition, some researchers have also found a moderating effect of supervisor support on the relationship between emotional exhaustion and intentions to leave (an organisational outcome included in the present study) (Van Dierendonck, Buunk & Schaufeli, 1998).. The Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) (Demerouti, Nachreiner, Bakker & Schaufeli, 2001) is a relatively new theory that has been employed by various researchers in research specifically on burnout. The JD-R model posits, working conditions can be divided into two broad categories, namely job demands and job resources, and each process has distinct individual and organisational outcomes.. Job demands constitutes a broad and comprehensive concept that describes physical, social or organisational aspects of the job that require prolonged physical and / or cognitive effort and, as such, are psychologically taxing. Job resources describes those physical, social, psychological or organisational aspects of the job that assist in achieving work goals, reducing job demands, or facilitating growth and development.. Individuals that experience high job demands and low levels of social support (a resource) should, according to this model, experience higher levels of stress, and hence, burnout (emotional exhaustion). In fact, different studies have found a positive relationship between job demands (such as emotional demands) and emotional exhaustion, as well as a positive relationship between a lack of job resources and emotional exhaustion (Demerouti et al., 2001; Jackson, Rothmann & Van de Vijver, 2005; Lewig & Dollard, 2003; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). In addition, the existence of a positive relationship between a lack of resources and psychological withdrawal (disengagement or mental distancing) has also been indicated (Demerouti et al., 2001,. 15.

(30) p.508; Jackson et al., 2005, p.18). As such, a shortage of resources also holds potential implications for intentions to leave and / or actual turnover.. As is evident from the above, both the COR theory and the JD-R model serve as an important theoretical grounding for a discussion on burnout (emotional exhaustion). The role of social resources in alleviating or preventing work-related strain has been extensively investigated and, in fact, has been found to impact both directly and indirectly on the specific burnout criterion in the present study, emotional exhaustion (Ito & Brotheridge, 2003).. 2.3.4. Organisational Commitment (OC) and Intentions to Leave Burnout has important consequences for organisations, including the call centre environment. One such consequence is employee turnover, a type of withdrawal behaviour believed to be one of the biggest problems in terms of both cost and productivity faced by call centres (O’Herron, 2003); another problem is lowered organisational commitment (OC) (Burke and Greenglass, 2001, cited in Maslach, Schaufeli & Leiter, 2001).. Deery and Kinnie (2004) describe employee withdrawal behaviours, whether it manifests temporarily or permanently, as undeniably entrenched characteristics of call centre work. They cite a nation-wide survey conducted in Britain in 2002 that found annual average turnover rates of over 30 per cent. A local South African newspaper recently pitched the Cape Town call centre industry’s annual labour turnover at 10,7 per cent (Van Dyk, 2004, p. S15).. The business implications of such figures are astronomical. According to the Merchants Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report (January 2005) labour cost consumes the biggest part of call centre budgets, averaging up to 68% of total operating budgets. In addition, annual labour turnover amongst the participating call centre sample is shown to cost organisations between USD 100 million to 500 million. Thus, turnover is a factor within the call centre industry that cannot be taken light-heartedly.. 16.

(31) Various researchers have studied turnover intention (intentions to leave) and actual turnover in an attempt to establish its relationship with other variables. One of the most consistent, negative relationships found in previous research is that between intentions to leave (as a measure of turnover) and OC (Stallworth, 2003). Meyer (2001) posits, the correlation between commitment and intentions to leave could be seen as a reflection of an association between a psychological state and a behavioural intention; stated differently, if turnover is the criterion, OC could act as the predictor.. 2.4. SUMMARY In light of the fact that the nature of CSRs’ work, encapsulated by the notion of emotional labour, has been linked to emotional exhaustion and that the latter is associated with such outcomes as employee turnover and low OC, companies that make use of call centres could gain substantially - for example in terms of cost savings - by investigating the relationships amongst these variables.. The reality, however, is that organisations and managers alike have up to date been reluctant to address – or even acknowledge – burnout (and by implication emotional exhaustion) as a significant role-player. This has been evident in their tendency to place the blame for burnout on the shoulders of the individual and in the description of burnout as the proverbial “can of worms that is best left unopened” (Maslach & Leiter, 1997, p.62). In a similar fashion business has mistakenly depicted emotion as irrational, as something that interferes with rational work performance; in other words, as an inconsequential factor to the organisational context (Mann, 2002).. The ability of Industrial Psychologists and Human Resource Managers to prevent and treat burnout (emotional exhaustion) – and thereby address organisational problems – is dependent on the extent to which they understand the latent variables that affect it and the manner in which these variables shape this complex phenomenon. Therefore, it is in the best interests of all organisations that make use of call centres to investigate the idiosyncrasies that exist in their specific contexts.. In the following chapter (Chapter 3) the causes of burnout (i.e. of emotional exhaustion) are explicated in depth. The discussion commences with emotional labour. 17.

(32) and is followed by social support – in both instances these constructs’ association with and contribution to emotional exhaustion is the primary focus.. Emotional Labour. Emotional Exhaustion. Organisational Commitment. Supervisor Support Intentions leave. Figure 1. Simplified Call Centre Model of Relationship between Emotional Labour, Emotional Exhaustion, and Organisational Outcomes.. 18. to.

(33) CHAPTER 3: EMOTIONAL LABOUR AND SUPERVISOR SUPPORT. 3.1. INTRODUCTION This chapter focuses on the causes of emotional exhaustion. It begins with a detailed discussion of, inter alia, the conceptualisation and dimensions of emotional labour, the association of the various sub-dimensions of emotional labour with emotional exhaustion, and the social interaction model of emotion regulation, a useful framework for interpreting research findings.. The second part of the chapter focuses on social support – specifically supervisor support – and cites research on the association between a lack of support and emotional exhaustion. Also included in this section are the different types and sources of social support, as well as the two mechanisms through which support impacts on strain (i.e. exhaustion).. 3.2. EMOTIONAL LABOUR 3.2.1. Emotional Labour in the Service Environment Contemporary service organisations have to distinguish themselves from other organisations, especially those selling similar products, in order to survive in the globally competitive marketplace. For this reason, these organisations advertise and sell service with a smile – a condition said to positively influence customer perceptions of service quality so as to increase the probability of repeat business (Grandey & Brauburger, 2002, p.260; Humphrey, 2000). Call centres constitute one such service environment where the management of customer relationships is a daily business prerogative.. In the service industry, and by implication call centres, the customer service employee – or customer service representative (CSR) in call centres - is charged with the responsibility to create a pleasant service experience for the consumers of organisations’ services and / or products. As such, service employees are expected to regulate and display certain pre-established and contextually appropriate emotions while interacting with customers – conditions that remind of the quantitative dimension of call centre work where CSRs are expected to engage in emotion regulation and adhere to the call centre script. The reward for engaging in this specific 19.

(34) type of labour is a wage. Thus, in addition to being paid for performing cognitive and physical work tasks, many employees are now also being paid for engaging in emotional work demands - more specifically, for performing emotional labour (Grandey & Brauburger, 2002; Zapf, 2002).. Ashforth and Humphrey (1993) provide several reasons for emotional labour’s relevance to service encounters like those occurring in call centre environments. Firstly, front-line service employees operate at the organisation-customer boundary representing the organisation to the public; secondly, as customers participate in the service encounter uncertainty ensues that provides the encounter with a dynamic and evolving quality, and lastly, the quality of services rendered is difficult to evaluate due to its intangible nature.. Berry (1980, cited in Bailey & McCollough, 2000) emphasize that in addition to its intangible character service interactions are heterogeneous encounters, also with regard to emotional content (p.54). These authors explain that no two service encounters can ever be a hundred percent alike, as both the course or process and the outcome of the interactions differ. In terms of emotions, it is highly unlikely that the emotions experienced by service provider and recipient respectively will converge perfectly and create a uniform emotional experience. Rather, both parties experience varying emotions and hence the aggregate emotional content of one service interaction to the next will vary. In this context, the behaviours of service employees – especially in terms of emotion regulation and / or flexibility – become an important influencing factor on clients’ perceptions of service and product quality respectively (Bowen et al., 1989, cited in Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993).. 3.2.2. Potential Costs Associated with Performing Emotional Labour Schaubroeck and Jones (2000) acknowledge that nowadays, the work roles of many people encompass the requirement to dictate and regulate their personal emotions. This additional job requirement acts as a demand, placed on individuals, with important consequences for psychological and physiological well-being. This thinking seems plausible as, noted in the introduction and in line with the Job DemandsResources (JD-R) theory, emotional labour could be conceptualised as a job demand, the performance of which results in emotional exhaustion (Demerouti et al., 2001). 20.

(35) Various researchers (Gross, 1998; Pugh, 2002; Richards & Gross, 1999) have conducted research on the mentioned consequences of emotion regulation for the individual. All of these researchers conclude that two particular types of emotion regulation costs are evident, namely a) physiological costs and b) cognitive costs, and that these vary in accordance with the particular emotion regulation technique employed.. According to the process model of emotion regulation (Gross, 1998; Pugh, 2002) emotion regulation occurs at two points in time. Furthermore, the timing of the regulation determines the particular technique employed, which in turn determines the particular cost for the individual. Antecedent-focused emotion regulation (Gross, 1998, p.225) occurs before the actual activation of an emotion; in other words, the individual acts on stimuli internally before it even generates an emotional response (i.e. it entails acting on the input to the system or individual). Response-focused emotion regulation (Gross, 1998, p.225) entails a reactive response in that the individual manipulates the expression of emotion (i.e. it entails acting on the output to the system or individual). Cognitive reappraisal, that is, “…interpreting potentially emotion-relevant stimuli in unemotional terms…” is a form of antecedent-focused emotion regulation, whereas suppression, that is, “…inhibiting emotion-expressive behavior while emotionally aroused…” is a form of response-focused emotion regulation (Gross, 1998, p.226) (For more examples see Gross, 1998).. An integration of research findings from the studies cited above seems to suggest, although the overt effect of both antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation seems similar, the actual, imperceptible effect on the individual is quite different. In other words, whereas both reappraisal and suppression are effective in generating an acceptable, explicit emotional display, and reappraisal succeeds in decreasing subjective emotional experience, suppression fails to impact on subjective emotional experience, resulting in, inter alia, increased sympathetic nervous system activation (such as increased heart rate). Thus, this immediate physiological effect of suppression could with sufficient repetition pose a health risk (cost) for the individual. Richards and Gross (1999) also found cognitive costs in the form of impaired memory performance for individuals simultaneously presented with information and the requirement to suppress emotion. In addition, the effects of suppression on memory 21.

(36) were independent of the strength (high versus low) of the negative emotions to be suppressed – thus, the suppression of negative emotions per se is significant.. In addition to a decrease in cognitive performance in the face of emotion regulation, Pugh (2002) also acknowledges the possibility for cognitive demands (cognitive load) decreasing one’s effectiveness at emotion regulation. In support of this hypothesis Rafaeli and Sutton (1990, cited in Pugh, 2002) found that customer service employees’ emotion expressions became systematically less positive as store busyness increased – they attributed this phenomenon to cognitive load experienced by the service employees.. These findings have important implications for CSRs - and their organisations - who are required to perform task demands (i.e. who are faced with a relatively high work and cognitive load respectively) and who, at the same time, need to regulate (suppress) their negative emotions (stated differently, display positive emotions) in their interactions with customers.. Richard and Gross (1999) poignantly summarise the effects of emotion suppression on the individual as follows: on the exterior it enables one to “… appear calm, cool, and collected …”, but on the inside one experiences “… just as much emotion and even more physiological activation …” than if one were to freely express one’s true emotions (p.1033). Such findings are important for management decisions with regard to training CSRs in emotion regulation techniques for optimal physiological and psychological well-being.. 3.2.3. Characteristics of Emotional Labour Emotional labour is described by three main characteristics. Firstly, it constitutes person-related work (Zapf, 2002, p.240) entailing either face-to-face or voice-to-voice client contact. Secondly, portrayed emotions serve to influence the emotions, attitudes and behaviours of other individuals. Strauss, Farahaugh, Suczek and Wiener (1980, cited in Zapf, 2002) term this aspect of emotional labour sentimental work (p.240), as emotion is perceived as a secondary work task, supportive of the primary work task and occurring in parallel with it. Applying this concept to the call centre environment it could be argued that a CSR’s primary task is to handle customer queries and 22.

(37) complaints, whereas dealing with client emotions effectively and / or ensuring satisfaction with services rendered constitute secondary tasks. Lastly, emotional expression is required to follow certain rules, that is, display rules of the organisation (Grandey & Brauburger, 2002; Humphrey, 2000; Zapf, 2002).. The second characteristic of emotional labour (mentioned above) is also encapsulated by the popular concept of the service-profit chain (Heskett, Sasser & Schlesinger, 1997, cited in Pugh, 2001, p.1018) that posits that a relationship exists between employees’ attitudes, the satisfaction of customers and organisations’ bottom-lines.. The hypothesis that service employees’ emotional displays impact customer affect has also been explained by the construct emotional contagion (Pugh, 2001, p.1020): Research has indicated that observers of negative and / or positive emotions experience a matching change in their own emotional states; hence, the potential impact of service providers’ behaviours becomes apparent.. Emotional contagion not only affects observers’ experienced emotions; it also affects the service employee’s efficiency at emotion regulation. Pugh (2002) explains, emotional contagion has an automatic, uncontrollable and unconscious nature and as such penetrates the service encounter invisibly, catching the service provider unprepared in activating his / her emotion regulation process. This, once again, insinuate the potential worth of applying antecedent-focused emotion regulation techniques (discussed above) in customer interactions.. The exact mechanisms that are at play during interactions between service employees and service recipients have, however, not been studied explicitly - until the appearance of the social interaction model of emotion regulation (Côté, 2005). This model, discussed in more detail further on, extends the emotional contagion hypothesis in that it adds a feedback loop between service recipients’ responses to emotional displays and service employees’ strain levels. This additional link is critical to the current study’s investigation into emotional exhaustion.. Attempts to align the characteristics of emotional labour with the call centre environment lead to the conclusion that emotional labour is a definite factor to include 23.

(38) in empirical studies conducted in any and every call centre environment. More specifically, call centres interact via voice-to-voice contact with their customers, the emotions expressed by CSRs are aimed at creating perceptions of quality service and feelings of satisfaction (i.e. positive emotions) amongst their customers, and CSRs are required to follow scripts as a function of the organisation’s display rules (that include specific phrases and tone of voice as a manner of speaking) while interacting with customers.. 3.2.4. Conceptualisation and Definition of Emotional Labour Different researchers conceptualise emotional labour (also referred to as emotion work) in different ways. Originally the focus was on the management of inner feelings for the purpose of creating an externally visible and physical composure (Hochschild, 1983, cited in Zapf, 2002), whereas later authors became more interested in the manner in which behaviours are portrayed and the extent to which these behaviours conform to organisational prerequisites (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993; Morris & Feldman, 1996, cited in Zapf, 2002).. These organisational prerequisites have alternatively been termed feeling rules by Hochschild (1979) and display rules by Ekman (1973, cited in Humphrey, 2000). Hochschild (1979) described feeling rules as “social guidelines” that instruct individuals in how they “want to try to feel” (p.563) – her research focus was on the actual experienced feelings of service workers. In contrast, display rules imply that organisations cannot force individuals to feel certain emotions; they can only influence the manner in which such emotions are expressed – in other words, the individual’s personal feelings are beyond the organisation’s influence (Humphrey, 2000).. Zapf, Isic, Bechtoldt and Blau (2003) provide some examples of rules (including display rules) that operate in call centres. These include explicit time limits for employee-customer interactions (for example four minutes talk-time), requirements to address customers on their names and to speak in a friendly and polite manner, as well as the requirement to create positive emotions, and hence ensure positive experiences, for customers.. 24.

(39) Definitions of emotional labour followed a similar development pattern as its conceptualisation. Hochschild (1979, 1983, cited in Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993) originally defined emotional labour as “the act of expressing socially desired emotions during service transactions” (pp.88-89), perceiving it as a way in which people are exploited and as a cause of individuals’ alienation from self and psychological. illness.. In. the. long. run,. however,. this. one-dimensional. conceptualisation of emotional labour proved insufficient as researchers failed to find the suggested negative relationship with psychological strain (Zapf, Seifert, Schmutte, Mertini & Holz, 2001).. In response to the above researchers started working at the differentiation of emotional labour as a multi-dimensional construct. In this regard, two researchers are specifically mentioned for having done pioneering work, namely J. Andrew Morris and Daniel C. Feldman (1996).. Morris and Feldman (1996) define emotional labour as “…the effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally desired emotion during interpersonal transactions” (p.987). Evidently the focus has shifted from the management of feeling to the expressed emotional behaviours of service workers, as the latter is what is desired by organisations (Morris & Feldman, 1996). Accordingly, Brotheridge and Lee (2003) define emotional labour as “…the behavioural response to variations in the frequency, variety, intensity and duration of service interactions” (p.367).. Morris and Feldman (1996) elaborate on their definition of emotional labour by explicating four assumptions underlying the construct against the backdrop of an interactionist model of emotion (p.987). Firstly, individuals interpret emotions through the environment that surrounds the emotional experience. This implies that social factors influence the manner in which emotions are experienced and expressed and the extent to which they are valued and nurtured or, in fact, subdued.. Secondly, despite congruence of felt and expressed emotions, these emotions still have to be translated into displays that are emotionally appropriate, which equates to emotional labour. Thirdly, the expression of emotion and resulting behaviours has. 25.

(40) become a market-place commodity (p.988) that is now part and parcel of the service itself.. Lastly, these researchers reiterate the fact that service workers are exposed to certain expectations (i.e. display rules) regarding their occupationally appropriate emotional behaviours, indicating what kinds of emotions are allowed expression, in what manner they are to be expressed and the time limit within which they should be expressed (Mann, 2002). For example, CSRs are expected to greet customers in a friendly, albeit clichéd, manner and to remain polite for the duration of the service encounter, that should be kept as short as possible, even if a customer behaves obnoxiously.. For this purpose, CSRs are provided with scripts, that is, detailed instructions for interacting with customers in terms of how to respond to clients irrespective of truly felt emotions. When CSRs are forced to express emotions that they do not feel and / or suppress emotions that they do feel (i.e. when expression differs from feeling) due to having to follow the ‘call centre script’, a state known as emotional dissonance ensues (Mann, 2002). Hochschild (1983, cited in Brotheridge & Lee, 2003) found that employees dealt with this dissonance via surface acting, in other words changing the displayed feelings, or deep acting, that is, actually creating the appropriate feelings internally. If this state of affairs continues over the long term, however, the end-result could be emotional exhaustion (Deery & Kinnie, 2004).. It is important to note, however, that emotional labour does not always result in emotional dissonance – stated differently, surface and / or deep acting is not always required for compliance with expected emotions. In fact, a service agent (CSR) may genuinely feel what he or she is expected to express without having to fake, induce or conjure up the emotion – this congruent state is another means of performing emotional labour (Ashforth & Humphrey, 1993; Zerbe, 2000, cited in Brotheridge & Lee, 2003). Therefore, Brotheridge and Lee (2003) do not regard emotional dissonance as a component of emotional labour despite its potential association with either surface or deep acting.. 26.

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